I spend a lot of time focused on the minute details of redeeming airline miles. Once in a while I think it makes sense to go back to the basics and look at redeeming miles a bit more “big picture.”
If you’ve ever redeemed miles for an international first or business class award ticket at the saver level, feel free to skip this post, as you likely won’t learn a lot. If you’ve redeemed miles mostly for domestic flights at the “rule buster” or standard award rate, hopefully this post helps. And if you have any questions, let me know in the comments section below.
To start — why miles are so awesome
Let me start by just briefly talking about why I love miles so much. I’m not a trust fund baby or independently wealthy, so if I were to have to pay for all my travel out of pocket in cash, I’d almost always be flying economy.
International premium cabins are typically so exorbitantly expensive that 99% of us could never afford to pay cash for them.
For example, a roundtrip flight between Los Angeles and Hong Kong in economy would cost you ~$1,100:
Meanwhile those same flights in first class would cost you $15,000+:
That’s right, a first class ticket costs more than 14 times as much as an economy class ticket on this route.
But what makes miles so awesome is that the premium for first and business class is usually much less drastic than that. For example, if redeeming American miles for the above flights, you’d pay 70,000 miles for a roundtrip in economy class, or 135,000 miles for a roundtrip in first class. That means that in this instance when redeeming miles, first class costs less than twice as much as economy class.
Cathay Pacific first class
And this isn’t a one off thing — I’ve reviewed dozens of airlines’ first class products using miles, most of which can be found in my trip report index.
So not only are miles great in that they can be used in lieu of cash to pay for flights, thereby saving your money, but the premium for first and business class is much less than if you were paying cash.
With that in mind, here are some general tips for redeeming airline miles:
Know which partnerships your airline has
Most airlines have a variety of partnerships with other airlines, whereby you can earn or redeem miles when traveling with one of their partner airlines. This is designed to give loyal passengers of each airline as much global coverage as possible — since an airline can’t take you everywhere in the world, hopefully their partners can at least get you close. Many airlines belong to one of the “big three” alliances (oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance), while other airlines just have individual partners.
As a refresher, here are the big three alliances:
oneworld Alliance:
airberlin
Finnair
TAM Airlines
Royal Jordanian
American Airlines
Iberia
Malaysia Airlines
S7 Airlines
British Airways
Japan Airlines (JAL)
Qantas
SriLankan Airlines
Cathay Pacific
LAN
Qatar Airways
US Airways
SkyTeam Alliance:
Aeroflot
Alitalia
Delta Air Lines
Middle East Airlines
Aerolíneas Argentinas
China Airlines
Garuda Indonesia
Saudia
Aeromexico
China Eastern
Kenya Airways
TAROM
Air Europa
China Southern
KLM
Vietnam Airlines
Air France
Czech Airlines
Korean Air
Xiamen Airlines
Star Alliance:
Aegean Airlines
AviancaTACA
EVA Air
South African Airways
Air Canada
Brussels Airlines
LOT Polish Airlines
SWISS
Air New Zealand
Copa Airlines
Lufthansa
TAP Portugal
ANA
Croatia Airlines
Scandinavian Airlines
THAI
Asiana Airlines
EGYPTAIR
Shenzhen Airlines
Turkish Airlines
Austrian
Ethiopian Airlines
Singapore Airlines
United
But the important thing to understand is that you have options in regards to which airlines you can redeem your miles on. And that’s a good thing for several reasons:
Often partner airlines offer a better onboard product than the airline with which you’re accruing miles (for example, you can redeem United miles for travel on ANA)
Partner airlines often have better award space than the airline with which you’re accruing miles (that’s because they may not have as many members in their own programs, so there’s less competition for award space — wanna guess whether there are more United Airlines MileagePlus members or Ethiopian Airlines ShebaMiles members?)
But the important thing is to research the website of the airline with which you have miles in order to figure out who they partner with. For example, American not only belongs to the oneworld alliance with over a dozen member airlines, but on top of that they have nearly a dozen other airline partnerships. You can redeem American AAdvantage miles on airlines ranging from Alaska to Etihad to Air Tahiti Nui.
American’s non-oneworld partner airlines
Know where to search award space
Nowadays many airlines display award availability online, though the question you should be asking is for which partners they’re displaying award space. Very few airlines actually display award space for all their partners directly through their websites.
Instead, you often have to make these bookings by phone. For example, while American’s website shows award space on some of their partner airlines (like airberlin, British Airways, Qantas, etc.), they don’t display space for other partners online. You should be able to determine that award space by calling the airline, or using one of the methods discussed below.
Qantas award availability on American website
Learn to search award space on your own
Never rely exclusively on an airline’s website to show you all the award space that could possibly be available. Many airline websites will show you some award space, but very few will show you all space.
Along the same lines, it can certainly make sense to call up the airline and ask an agent if they see any award space, but even they probably won’t go out of their way to be creative with what they search.
Learning which websites you can use to search award space can really help. For example, for Star Alliance the ANA tool is great at searching award space, while for oneworld the British Airways tool is great for searching award space.
Using the ANA website to search Lufthansa award space
But even they won’t show you all the space out there, so be sure you’re doing a bit of googling about your mileage currency to make sure you’re finding out all the options available to you for searching space.
Know when airlines open their schedules
Airlines all open up their schedules at different times, typically somewhere between 10 and 12 months before departure. Knowing when they open up award space can be the difference between finding award space and not finding award space.
Here’s a chart covering when many major airlines open their award calendars:
If you have miles with this program:
You can book this many days before departure:
Air Canada Aeroplan
356 days
Air France Flying Blue
305 days
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
331 days
All Nippon Airways (ANA) Mileage Club
356 days
American AAdvantage
331 days
Avianca LifeMiles
360 days
British Airways Executive Club
355 days
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
360 days
Delta SkyMiles
331 days
Emirates Skywards
340 days
Lufthansa Miles & More
359 days
Qantas Frequent Flyer
353 days
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
355 days
United MileagePlus
338 days
US Airways Dividend Miles
335 days
There are two things that it’s important to understand:
If you’re looking to travel during peak periods, you’re best off booking as far out as possible
Understand that airlines don’t release award space in all cabins on all flights, so if you check space the day it opens and there’s nothing available, that doesn’t necessarily mean someone else “beat you to it”
Consider redeeming miles for first class
In case the above example showing the price difference between economy and first class didn’t convince you to redeem miles for first and business class, as a general strategy it can make sense to redeem miles for a premium cabin in order to save miles.
Many times airlines will release first class award space but not economy class award space, so it might just be cheaper to redeem miles for first class than economy.
For example, take this flight between Chicago and Los Angeles. It doesn’t have saver level economy class award space, but rather only space at the “standard” level, which costs 30,000 miles one-way:
Meanwhile on the same flight there’s award space available at the saver level in first class for just 25,000 miles — that’s a savings of 5,000 miles over economy:
Yes, in this case it’s cheaper to fly first class than economy class.
Be flexible with dates and times
I know this sounds obvious and for many people is the reason they don’t like miles, but you do have to be a bit flexible if you want to book award tickets. Rather than looking at needing to be flexible as a huge obstacle, keep in mind just how much value you can get out of miles if you’re redeeming them properly.
While it might be a pain to be flexible on dates when you’re trying to redeem miles for a one-way ticket between Los Angeles and San Francisco, hopefully we can look at it a bit differently if we’re talking about redeeming miles for first class between Los Angeles and Hong Kong, for example.
A lot of award space opens last minute
This is probably the single greatest trick when it comes to finding award space. A lot of people assume that airlines release award space right when the schedule opens, and then don’t release any after that.
That couldn’t be further from the truth. Lots of airlines release award space close to departure, and that’s a trend that’s continuing to happen more and more. With record load factors and profitability for the airlines, they’re releasing less and less award space in advance, and more and more award space as the departure date approaches.
Think of it this way — if there’s a flight tomorrow with empty seats, they’d rather fill those seats and get the liability of miles off their books than just let those seats go out empty.
For example, looking at award space in first class from Los Angeles to Hong Kong for Wednesday, every single Cathay Pacific flight has first class award space:
Search for award space segment-by-segment
Perhaps this is a bit more than “redeem miles 101,” but it’s important to understand that often times the reason your award ticket is pricing at an exorbitantly high price is because there’s no space on a short, domestic flight, while the longhaul flight has award space.
For example, if you want to redeem miles to fly from Savannah, Georgia to Paris, France and it prices at a high rate, consider searching award space from a gateway city. For example, Atlanta to Paris could price at 125,000 miles roundtrip in business class, while Richmond to Paris prices at 325,000 miles roundtrip in business class.
If you’re willing to have a longer layover or position yourself for the longhaul flight separately, you could potentially save a lot of miles.
Have flexible points currencies
Over time you learn that different points currencies are valuable for different destinations. For example, while American AAdvantage miles might be incredibly valuable for travel to Asia and South America, they’re less valuable for travel to Australia and South Africa. Delta SkyMiles, on the other hand, are incredibly valuable for travel to Australia and South Africa, if planning in advance.
Therefore if you earn points primarily through credit card spend, try to accrue points currencies that are flexible. That means rather than collecting one specific mileage currency, collect points which you can later transfer to any of the three alliances.
The three major transferable points currencies are:
American Express Membership Rewards:
AeroMexico Club Premier
ANA Mileage Club
El Al Matmid
JetBlue TrueBlue
Air Canada Aeroplan
British Airways Executive Club
Frontier EarlyReturns
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
AirFrance/KLM Flying Blue
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
Virgin America EleVAte
Alitalia MilleMiglia
Delta SkyMiles
Iberia Plus
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Chase Ultimate Rewards:
Amtrak Guest Rewards
IHG Rewards Club
Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards
United MileagePlus
British Airways Executive Club
Korean Air SkyPass
The Ritz-Carlton Rewards
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Hyatt Gold Passport
Marriott Rewards
Singapore KrisFlyer
Starwood Preferred Guest:
AeroMexico Club Premier
ANA Mileage Club
Emirates Skywards
Saudi Arabian Airlines Alfursan
Air Canada Aeroplan
American Airlines AAdvantage
Etihad Airways
Singapore Airlines KrisFlyer
airberlin Top Bonus
Asiana Airlines
Gol Smiles
Thai Airways Royal Orchid Plus
Air China Companion
British Airways Executive Club
Hawaiian Airlines HawaiianMiles
US Airways Dividend Miles
Air France/KLM FlyingBlue
Cathay Pacific Asia Miles
Japan Airlines (JAL) Mileage Bank
United Mileage Plus
Air New Zealand Air Points
China Eastern Airlines
LAN Airlines LANPASS Kms
Virgin Atlantic Flying Club
Alaska Airlines Mileage Plan
China Southern Airlines' Sky Pearl Club
Lufthansa Miles & More
Virgin Australia
Alitalia MilleMiglia
Delta Air Lines SkyMiles
Qatar Airways
As you can see, you can collect any of those three points currencies and transfer them to some frequent flyer program belonging to each of the three major alliances. There’s a lot of value in that.
For example, if your ultimate goal is to earn British Airways Avios through credit card spend, you could earn those by putting spend on the British Airways Visa Signature® Card, which actually might not be a bad option since the card earns 1.25 Avios per dollar spent.
But alternatively you could put that spend on a card like the Chase Sapphire Preferred® Card, Ink Plus® Business Card, or Ink Bold® Business Card, where you’d earn category bonuses and in the event of a devaluation, still be able to transfer those miles to another points currency instead. There’s a lot of value in that kind of flexibility. The same is true with Membership Rewards and Starwood Preferred Guest points.
Miles aren’t for everyone
When I explain to people what I do, I often hear “oh, I hate miles, they’re so useless.” My follow up question is “what do you usually redeem them for?”
And when they tell me, I often agree with them — I would hate miles as well if I was trying to redeem miles for the flights they’re hoping to redeem for.
The fact is that traditional mileage currencies can get you great value on longhaul, international tickets, as well as first and business class tickets.
However, if you’re wanting to redeem points for domestic flights which wouldn’t be all that expensive if paying cash, there are alternatives in the form of fixed value points currencies. If you earn your miles primarily through credit card spend, consider earning fixed value points rather than traditional miles.
What am I talking about? The Barclaycard Arrival Plus™ World Elite MasterCard® is a cash back travel rewards credit card. For every dollar you spend you get two cents towards the cost of travel, plus a 10% refund when you redeem your points, which is the equivalent of ~2.22% cash back.
Redeeming these points for a domestic ticket that wouldn’t cost much in cash would be a great value. You don’t have to deal with the hassle of limited availability and blackout dates, and instead can redeem them for any flight on which a ticket is being sold.
Meanwhile if you tried to redeem these miles for the $15,000+ Cathay Pacific ticket above, you’d come out way behind.
So it’s important to consider what your award redemption goals are, and how best to reach them.
Read trip reports before booking
Assuming you have a choice of products at the same mileage level, I suggest reading some online reviews and trip reports of the airlines before making a booking. Not all airlines are created equal.
Fly Lufthansa first class and you’ll be driven to your plane on the tarmac in a Porsche. Fly Thai first class and you’ll get an hour-long massage in their first class lounge. Fly Singapore Airlines Suites Class and you may get a double bed in the sky. Fly Emirates first class and you may get an onboard shower.
Emirates first class shower suite
There are so many amazing airline products out there, and they’re most definitely not all created equal. I’ve written hundreds of airline reviews, and there are thousands more out there on the internet.
Lufthansa first class
Bottom line
With airlines as profitable as ever and load factors as high as they’ve been in a long time, it can be tougher and tougher to find those award seats. That being said, we can always aim to stay one step ahead of the airlines. Miles aren’t for everyone, but the potential they hold for the right people is simply incredible, and I don’t expect that to change anytime soon.
If you’re just getting started in this hobby, be sure to check out my beginners guide to miles & points.
What are your top tips for redeeming miles which I didn’t mention above?
(In the interest of full disclosure I earn a referral bonus for anyone that’s approved through some of the above links. They’re all for the best publicly available offers for each card. Neither this post, nor the comments, are provided nor commissioned by Chase. The comments below have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by the bank advertiser, and it is not the bank advertiser’s responsibility to ensure all posts and/or questions are answered. Thanks for your support! )
The post Tips For Redeeming Airline Miles appeared first on One Mile at a Time.
Comments
@lucky, thank you. This is good news what you are saying. Im ... by Endre
Do you know which route Cathay has the most First class award ... by Stephen
@ Endre — Whoops, sorry for misunderstanding. To inquire ... by lucky
@lucky @colleen Thank you for the reply. @collen is correct. ... by Endre
Great post Ben. Please add the two missing airlines to your ... by TrAAveller
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